VisaPalauan citizens starting work in the US should check their arrival and Social Security records
Current-rule guide to the documents Palauan citizens admitted under the Compact need when moving from arrival to a Social Security application and employment.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
Last verified against linked sources:
Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Start with the admission category, not a tourist assumption
Palauan citizens admitted to the United States under the Compact of Free Association can live and work there without obtaining an ordinary employment visa. This current-rule guide follows the next practical task: obtaining the Social Security record and documents needed when starting work. It concerns admission under the Compact, rather than every person carrying a Palauan passport or every immigration category.
USCIS's Palau status factsheet says Compact privileges do not extend automatically to non-Palauan family members. It requires a valid Palauan passport for admission and recommends additional eligibility evidence in circumstances such as naturalisation. A spouse with another nationality should therefore establish their own immigration route. The factsheet also distinguishes admission evidence from a permanent resident card: indefinite permission under this arrangement should not be described as obtaining a green card.
Retrieve the arrival record before the Social Security appointment
The Customs and Border Protection I-94 help resource explains the Compact arrangement and provides the official route to the electronic arrival record. After arrival, use the I-94 service to obtain the record rather than relying only on an airline booking. Check the identifying information against the passport before using it in another agency's application. An itinerary records intended travel; it does not establish the admission category actually granted.
This distinction matters when an applicant is assembling a first Social Security application. Keep the passport and the arrival record available together so an agency can identify the person and the immigration entry being relied on. CBP's help resource is the appropriate starting point for understanding the record service. This guide does not establish a separate deadline for downloading the record or promise that a download alone satisfies every employment-document requirement.
Show Social Security the Compact admission evidence
Social Security's Compact-specific operating instructions identify CFA/PAL as the Palau admission annotation. They explain that people admitted under the Compact are issued unrestricted Social Security cards. However, staff must not apply that treatment merely because a citizen of a Compact country presents evidence showing a different admission category. If the record does not show the expected status, raise that specific discrepancy rather than assuming citizenship alone resolves the application.
The same instructions distinguish a person admitted in the United States from somebody applying from outside it. They also expressly treat American Samoa separately under its immigration rules. Consequently, a prospective mover should not assume that an overseas request establishes the same work-authorised Social Security eligibility as admission under the Compact. The manual's use of permanent-resident terminology for Social Security administration does not itself issue an immigration green card.
Prepare the free application and original evidence
Form SS-5 is the Social Security Administration's application for an original card. Its instructions say the application is free and require at least two documents establishing age, identity and citizenship or current lawful work-authorised immigration status. Originals or copies certified by the record custodian are required; ordinary photocopies and notarised copies are not equivalent. An adult should assemble age evidence as well as the passport and immigration record, rather than expect one document to answer every question.
Applicants aged 12 or older who have never received a number must apply in person. Use the form's office-finding instructions or call 1-800-772-1213 to confirm the receiving office and appointment arrangements. Provide a reliable mailing address. The reviewed evidence does not establish an individual completion date; documentary verification or an unresolved entry-record discrepancy can affect when the application can be completed.
Use the right documents when an employer checks eligibility
The Justice Department's employer guidance explains a useful distinction: an unrestricted Social Security card establishes employment authorisation as a List C document, while a qualifying List B document supplies identity. An employment authorisation card is another possible document choice. Workers choose from the acceptable document lists; an employer should not demand a particular document because of nationality.
The department's January 2019 Compact guidance distinguishes Palau from the Marshall Islands and Micronesia for passport-plus-I-94 combinations. The current eCFR text of 8 CFR 274a.2, checked separately, likewise lists the passport combination for the latter two countries, while allowing an unrestricted Social Security card alongside qualifying identity evidence. Use the linked regulation for the current document framework. For nationality-based document demands, workers can call the Justice Department at 1-800-255-7688; employers can call 1-800-255-8155.
